I was reading the request for public comment on the 2009 re authorization of the Child Nutrition Programs as well as the relevant comments the other day and I saw a few concepts being thrown the governments way. One was to ban all sugared sodas, the other asked for taxes. This isn’t surprising, sugared sodas have been touted as one of the main contributors to the childhood obesity problem in the United States. I do not take issue with this fact, but the fact that the current ( widely accepted) policy recommendation, namely, a tax on sugared drinks, might be possible, but to my knowledge, no viable policy recommendations have been made to achieve this end. (more…)

Anyone who’s ever taken a psychology class would be able to tell the story of Kitty Genovese and the societal observation it gave birth to, known as the Genovese effect or the bystander effect. Her story is not easily forgotten. According to Michael Dorman of NewsDay, her 1964 murder in Queens – witnessed by 38 neighbors, none of whom acted to help her – became “a symbol of Americans’ failure to get involved.” Two weeks after the murder, the New York Times’ Martin Gansberg described that failure to get involved as an example of the callousness and apathy of the big-city environment.

But why am I writing about this today? Today, on my way home in my own big-city environment, my mind occupied by trivialities like my upcoming thesis, I saw the Genovese effect proven wrong. (more…)